A survey of 2,000 households, conducted by market researchers Markit and YouGov, has revealed confidence has been knocked and households are under pressure financially. The reason for the fall in confidence comes as households are fearful of losing their jobs as the coalition Government embarks on massive spending cuts and tax hikes. Approximately 600,000 public [...]
China faced renewed pressure at this weekend’s G20 summit Toronto, Canada, after a draft said: “Emerging surplus economies will undertake reforms tailored to country circumstances to… enhance rate flexibility.” Beijing has previously ruled out a one-off appreciation of its currency and has previously said keeping the yuan stable is “an important contribution” to global recovery. [...]
A report by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), has revealed a degree of optimism for the UK financial services sector, which is expected to record higher growth in the next three months, after stagnating in the last quarter. According to the business group, an improvement will be seen in the next three months after [...]
The Labor Department has announced the number of US workers filing for jobless benefits fell last week. According to the Labor Department, initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell in the week ended March 20 to 14,000 to 442,000 – boosting hopes that the recovery in the world’s largest economy is gathering momentum. Commenting on [...]
The Labor Department today revealed the world’s largest economy appears to be under no inflationary pressure as consumer prices remained flat in February, as widely expected. According to the Labor Department, the consumer price index remained unchanged during the month, although prices were 2.1% higher than in February 2009. Meanwhile, core inflation, which excludes food [...]
According to reports, banking giant HSBC has bowed to shareholder pressure and abandoned plans to raise its chief executive’s salary. The Financial Times said the bank had consulted shareholders on proposals to raise Michael Geoghegan’s salary by 36% to £1.4 million ($2.2 million). The FT also reported that the bank had planned to up the [...]
It has emerged today that Eric Daniels, chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group, will waive his £2.3 million annual bonus. The move comes after Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive, Stephen Hester, opted not to take his £1.6 million bonus. The decision by 49-year-old Hester came just one week after Barclays chief executive John Varley [...]
Over the weekend, it emerged that Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) chief executive, Stephen Hester, had opted not to take his £1.6 million bonus. The decision by 49-year-old Hester came just one week after Barclays chief executive John Varley and president Bob Diamond both agreed to sacrifice bonuses for the second year in a row, [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today revealed that the UK’s public finances deteriorated last month with net borrowing at £4.3 billion. January is traditionally a strong month for tax receipts – due to income and corporation tax, according to the ONS. However, tax income was lower than expected and it is the first [...]
The Bank of Japan has again elected to keep interest rates on hold at the low level of 0.1%, as widely expected. It is anticipated that the Bank will leave rates at the low rate until around 2012 as a result of deflationary pressures. The world’s no.2 economy exited recession in the second quarter of [...]
The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has today elected to keep UK interest rates on hold at the record low of 0.5% for the ninth month in a row. Furthermore there are no changes to its quantitative easing (QE) programme. Last month, the Bank announced that it would pump another £25 billion into [...]
After a heated row with the Treasury, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has indicated that it will bow to pressure to cut executive bonuses. It emerged yesterday that the board of RBS had threatened to quit under Government plans to veto bonus payments. The threat of a mass exodus came as the bank said [...]
Lone-parent campaign group Gingerbread has said new rules mean unemployed single parents are facing severe pressure to return to work by the Government. According to the charity, new regulations means almost 70,000 single parents with a child aged 10 to 16 will now receive jobseekers’ allowance instead of income support. Currently, single parents aged over [...]
The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee has opted to slash rates from 4.5% to 3%. Many analysts believed that a half percentage point cut was on the cards but the Bank has opted for an aggressive cut after it has been under severe pressure to cut interest rates to avoid a prolonged recession. Figures [...]
The Bank of England is under severe pressure to cut interest rates this week after figures revealed that the service sector shrank in October. The service sector, which makes for almost three quarters of output, fell for the sixth consecutive month and was at its lowest level since 1996, according to an index compiled by [...]
Phone fraudsters stealing bank card pins
Fraudsters using a phone scam to trick bank card holders into revealing their pin numbers stole £750,000 in the first four months of this year. This is the same amount stolen through this scam in the whole of last year. The fraudster telephones a bank customer, often someone elderly or vulnerable, telling them that their [...]
FSA rules out ban on interest-only mortgages
Speculation that the Financial Services Authority would ban interest-only mortgages as part of its Mortgage Market Review has proved to be unfounded. However, lenders will be required to monitor the performance of the investment product taken out by the customer to repay the mortgage at the end of its term. Investments are performing poorly because [...]
Bank of England may end free in-credit banking
A director of the Bank of England has warned that official intervention could be considered to end the ‘dangerous myth of free in-credit banking’. Andrew Bailey has already spoken out against free banking in relation to the mis-selling of financial products. In a speech made available to media, he reiterated his concern, saying that it [...]
Bank of England votes against more economic stimulus
The Bank of England voted against a further round of quantitative easing, at its latest Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. Just one member, David Miles, voted for further asset purchase to encourage growth in the UK economy, while the other eight members voted to keep the Bank’s quantitative easing programme steady at £325bn. The minutes [...]
Catalogue debt growing says helpline
Calls from people concerned about their debts with mail order catalogues accounted for more than 12 per cent of all calls received by National Debtline last year, compared with just 8 per cent in 2007. More people were concerned about catalogue debt than about payday loans, mortgage or rent, according to the Money Advice Trust [...]
Homeserve faces mis-selling investigation
HomeServe, which provides emergency insurance cover and domestic repairs to households in the UK, is to be investigated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Issues over the possible mis-selling of household emergency policies were uncovered last October during an internal review at the Walsall-based company. Homeserve’s call centre staff were found to be selling ‘Complete [...]
OFT warns Wonga over debt collection methods
Payday loan company Wonga used aggressive and misleading methods to collect debts from customers, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has found. Wonga sent letter and emails to certain customers suggesting they had committed fraud and threatening to report them to the police if they did not act in the way Wonga suggested. The company [...]
NS&I re-launches investment account
National Savings & Investments (NS&I) has re-launched its Investment Account at a higher interest rate than it previously offered. The account now offers 0.75 per cent before tax, compared with between 0.2 and 0.3 per cent previously, depending on the account balance. Deposits and withdrawals on the account can no longer be made at Post [...]
Rightmove reports property downsizing trend
Two in five property owners planning to sell in the next year are planning to ‘trade down’, compared with one in four who plan to ‘trade up’. A survey by property website Rightmove found that moving to a smaller home is the main reason for moving in nine out of the ten regions in the [...]
More people failing to save for retirement
The proportion of people with no pension savings has grown from 20 per cent to 22 per cent over the past year, according to Scottish Widows’ latest survey. The pension provider surveyed 5,200 adults in the UK, aged 30 or over, and earning at least £10,000 a year, for its annual review of pensions. Ian [...]
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